Jase

Felix Magath is really having an absolute nightmare at Fulham, isn't he? 2-0 down at Nottingham Forest earlier, then went 3-2 up before collapsing in the last 13 minutes to lose 5-3. Bottom of the Championship with just 1 point from 7 games. A goner soon really.

If we're really gonna look that way when Costa doesn't play, then we're screwed!

As a unit yes but as an individual, it's not rocket science to know that you shouldn't go pressing blindly when your teammates are not, especially for an intelligent player like Fabregas. And it's even worse when this is not the first time it has happened.

I agree but the thing is though, if the others happen not to be doing it, then Fabregas should hold back a little bit. Otherwise, it's silly when he press and the others do not, and suddenly we get passed around so easily.

Precisely what I said. Why should his offensive contributions (which has been great) should be used for his defensive deficiencies? If this was Lampard, I would be criticizing him too. 'Weirdly unbalanced' judgment. Yes, we've scored those chances, the game would have been different but you're in denial if you think Fabregas is good defensively. And did I even mention anything about us playing 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 today?

Perhaps true but still doesn't quite warrant the 'weird unbalanced' judgment here. To use just his tackles statisctics as a way to justify his defensive performance is misleading. The whole team needs to improve on this as well but what is really bad about him right now from a defensive perspective is his pressing. It's like neither here nor there, gets too eager to press and then leaving silly spaces and gaps behind him.

Kinda 'weird' that people are using the offensive role notion to defend Fabregas for his defensive performance when only 2-3 seasons ago, people were slating Lampard for not doing anything defensively in the pivot, despite him being tasked to do things offensively. Not saying Fabregas has been hopelessly bad in that midfield but his defensive work still leaves a lot to be desired.

I just checked through the league results from last season and if my memory hasn't gone bust, think we did not score a goal DIRECTLY from a corner. WTH?! But this season, we've already got 2 in four games!

Diego Costa injury: Jose Mourinho reveals striker cannot play three games in a week after picking up hamstring injury with Spain

Fabregas was good offensively tonight again and he has been so far this season. However, defensive wise, he needs to improve...a lot. His pressing again was like neither here nor there Schalke and left gaps/spaces to be exploited. Would also helpful if he doesn't dwell on the ball for too long..

I wouldn't call it inverted winger at all because he doesn't operate like one. He played more of a CM tucking in narrow from the wide position to give us a more 4-man midfield to be able to control the game and give the side a good balance.

Oh wait. Just saw it's Ivanovic in that CB position with Terry. Thought it was Cahill and Ivanovic taken out completely. If that's the case, then the desperateness just increased to 75%.

Just like I've been saying (or said), it's all good when the defence was tight and compact last season, which helped him from being exploited and to perform well. But the minute we look more open and expose him to 1 v 1 situations or similar ones, his weaknesses are still there and clear as broad daylight. Even he had somewhat of a nightmare dealing with Gomis at the weekend.

Good performance tonight. Those crosses though...they were something else. Refreshing and delicious. I wouldn't say we desperately need to switch to that back 4 but I definitely would love to see that happen.

Honestly, do not know what to expect here. Part of me wants us to take City head-on because they haven't exactly been very convincing this season, especially if we do win, we'll open up an 8-point gap on them. But another part wants us to be a tad more cautious (and no, I don't mean we should go there and just park the bus) simply because with the way we're playing right now, we are too open defensively and not working well yet as a unit in that regard. Speaking about that, we definitely have to go with 4-3-3 with Matic, Fabregas and Ramires in the middle. If we go with the 4-2-3-1 and the pivot of Matic and Fabregas, I fear we might get slaughtered in that midfield area. Need legs, energy, discpline and solidity in that area. Otherwise, there will be plenty of holes for the likes of Silva, Toure and Nasri to exploit, which won't be pretty at all.

Think that's a bit overstating TBH. Offensive wise, yes, he was great and he has been so far this season but defensively though, he still need to improve, a lot.

Positives: 1. Luis' performance. Those crosses were 'delicious'. 2. Going forward and actually creating chances. Much improvement from last season. 3. Saved by Maribor's stoppage time equaliser against Sporting Lisbon. Everything still the way it is in the group (sort of). Negatives: 1. Mourinho starting Drogba and not Remy, at least. Feels like the former was chosen because of sentimental reasons. 2. Defensively still look a suspect and way too open at times. Team not pressing as a unit and getting bypassed way too easily at times. 3. Missing chances galore. That was so like the 2013/14 Chelsea. Random Stat: Third consecutive Champions League campaign for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho in which they have failed to win their first group game - DLD. Random Stat 2: The two times Jose Mourinho started the UCL campaign with a draw, he ended up winning the competition - Porto in 03/04 and Inter in 09/10. (he did start with a draw in 06/07 with CFC but left the club soon after. So, not counted...)

That happened because our pressing was hilariously bad again. Didn't press as a unit and got passed around way too easily at times.

Manchester City v Chelsea PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT 2014/15 Premier League Match 5 21st September, Sunday, 2014 Etihad Stadium 16:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2014/15 Premier League Match 5 21st September, Sunday, 2014 Etihad Stadium 16:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Perhaps so but you can't deny that was an average performance, especially when we failed to control the game and still looking suspect defensively.

And people thought we were going to thrash Schalke.....

Would like to know what has happened to our defence this season. Compared to the high standards of last season, we have been quite appalling really and that Draxler chance just before HT summed it up. @Madmax, go claim your prize from Alex.

A poor excuse for your cock-up.

Fixed.